The National Bank of Ukraine does not buy gold on the world market to replenish its gold and foreign exchange reserves. The Ministry of Finance was informed about this by the NBU in response to an official request.
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They also clarified that the physical volume of gold in the reserves of the National Bank has not changed since 2021, when the metal reserve grew by 30 thousand troy ounces – that is, by 933 kilograms. After which it reached 27.1 thousand kg/27.1 tons.
The regulator showed the Ministry of Finance the dynamics of changes in its gold reserve in troy ounces.
Officials explained that we hold reserve gold in two forms – non-cash in accounts and cash in bullion:
- 2.1 tons – non-cash, 25 tons – cash.
Usually, central banks form reserves in refined gold of the international standard LGD (London Good Delivery), bars weighing 400 tr. ounces, or 12.5 kg, which ordinary people are unlikely to see on sale in commercial banks and can be seen mainly in movies.
In cash, Ukraine has accumulated about 2 thousand such bars in reserves.
At the same time, our country, unlike others, does not carry out wholesale purchases of ready-made, sealed gold bars, but is engaged in processing scrap – melting it into 999 ,9 sample. The NBU purchases metal and products made from it (not purchased by people) from pawnshops.
“The main source of replenishment of monetary gold in the international reserves of Ukraine is the bringing of scrap gold to the highest quality and its subsequent inclusion in reserves,” the National Bank confirmed to the Ministry of Finance.
At the same time, in the general reporting of the National Bank you can see monetary an increase in the share of gold in international reserves: if in February it was $1.76 billion (4.7% of all gold and foreign reserves), then already in March it was $1.92 billion (4.4%). But this growth was achieved only due to price changes and an increase in the price of metal on the world market. The same reserve is recalculated at a new value.
Ukraine is not considered a country with a large gold reserve; our reserve of 27.1 tons in 2023 put us only in 58th place in the world. There is much more of it, for example, in Uzbekistan (395 tons, 13th place in the world) and Kazakhstan (352 tons, 15th place). And the world's three largest holders of gold in the reserves of central banks look like this:
- USA – 8,133 tons; Germany – 3,355 tons; Italy – 2,452 tons.
You can read about the share of the euro in the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank and their composition in the Ministry of Finance material “Why the NBU started talking about pegging the hryvnia to the euro and what will come of it.”
- Gold
